The UK-based Cairn Energy has decided to file lawsuits in the US and other countries to seize overseas assets of the Indian government companies as part of the $1.2 billion award by the international arbitration tribunal. These are primarily non-diplomatic assets, owned by the Indian government.

Dennis Hranitzky, head of the sovereign litigation practice at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a law firm representing the company, told news agency PTI that Cairn is looking to pressurise the government by seizing its overseas assets.

The Supreme Court today ruled in favour of Tata Sons and Ratan Tata, by upholding the ouster of Cyrus Mistry as the Executive Chairman of the salt-to-software Tata Conglomerate. The apex court dismissed pleas filed by Cyrus Mistry and set aside the NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) order. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, and comprising Justice A S Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian had reserved the judgement earlier in December on various pleas by Tata Sons as well as Cyrus Mistry's Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd.

The Apex Court, however, stopped short of adjudicating on the matter of separation between the two groups. The order leaves Tata Sons and Cyrus Mistry on their own to decide the issue of shares held by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. 

People troubled with the skyrocketing prices of petrol and diesel are going to get some relief as the government has approved the use of Ethanol as Standalone Fuel.

Oil marketing companies have now been allowed to sell E-100. Permission has been granted. According to sources, an order has been issued by the Petroleum Ministry. However, this fuel will be used only in those vehicles which will be E100 compatible.

The Petroleum Ministry issued an order declaring ethanol as Standalone Fuel. Like petrol and diesel, the government has allowed the sale of E-100 directly. For this, the motor spirit and high-speed diesel order 2005 has been amended.

This decision of the government will greatly benefit the sugar companies, OMC's and ethanol companies. These companies can benefit from increased ethanol production with surplus stock. 

The Modi government is not aware of large companies setting up wholly-owned micro and small enterprise (MSE) subsidiaries to acquire public procurement tenders in the country, according to MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari. The minister's comment comes amid the growing significance of the online channel for public procurement among MSEs to sell more to government organisations and central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). Financial Express Online reported in February this year that the share of MSEs selling to the government via the Government eMarketplace (GeM) had more than doubled in the preceding 12 months.

"No, sir," Gadkari had replied to a question in the Rajya Sabha on whether the government is aware that some large corporates are setting up wholly-owned MSEs subsidiaries to grab public procurement tender. From 71,941 MSE sellers having a 22 per cent share of the 3.29 lakh seller base on GeM in February last year, the count has increased to 5,45,145 MSE sellers with a 49.5 per cent share of 10,99,116 total sellers as of February 25, 2021, according to the data sourced from GeM.

If you are planning to visit the bank for some work, then you might have to prepone your visit as bank services across India will largely stay closed or offer curtailed services from March 27 to April 4 as the institutions switch to the new financial year.

All banks will stay closed for three consecutive days from March 27- March 29 on account of the fourth Saturday, Sunday and Holi. In Bihar's capital Patna, bank branches will remain closed for four consecutive days as March 30 is also a holiday as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) holidays list. Although March 31 is not holiday customers are not entertained as it's the last day of the financial year.

Customer-facing services at bank branches will remain closed on March 31 and April 1 as banks close their books for FY21. April 2 would be a holiday on account of Good Friday and services will be shut on April 4, as it is a Sunday.